The new week kicks off with an assortment of online reviews for Obsidian Entertainment's Neverwinter Nights 2. The first is at SciFi.com with an overall score of "C":

Convincing hardened D&D'ers that their beloved system may finally have teetered over into fetish is like rolling boulders up a hill, but it is, in the end, the big problem here. It's easy to say "But it's a D&D game, so fidelity's a virtue." Too easy. If you really want computer-aided D&D, it's far more satisfying to grab a copy of Code Monkey's eTools and stick with your local haunts.

If you haven't guessed it by now, I love this game. With all of the side quests and twists, you are looking at hours of great gameplay. Create your own worlds or play other's creations and tack on even more. When I look at this game, I see many older mechanics from many games. But I also see strong gameplay with hundreds of hours of replayability. That is why for years, the original game was still being released on store shelves and played by thousands. This game, like the original, will probably only be surpassed by its sequel.

The game does have some flaws, but it still has an enjoyable adventure worth traveling for RPG D&D fans. It is graphically very nice, has solid sound and has addicting gameplay. Much fun to be had here, with the entertainment factors far outweighing the few flaws the game has.

Obsidian, in my opinion, have really screwed up on this one, possibly because they've rushed it. The game feels unfinished and it's very rough around the edges. I'd have expected a game to play and feel like this in 2004. It also lacks a lot of features you'd expect from a modern RPG. It wouldn't matter as much if the game had something that made you sit up and say WOW! But it really doesn't.